Black Label
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- This article is about Black Label beer. For other uses of the phrase see black label.'
Black Label is a brand of beer well known throughout the former British Empire except for the United States, where it is best known for its slogan "Hey Mabel, Black Label!". In several countries it is also known as Carling Black Label.
Created in Cleveland, Ohio in 1933 in the former Peerless Automobile factory, Black Label was the Carling Company's foray into the American market. Black Label's stated purpose was to be high quality beer at a discount rate, strategically placing breweries around the country to ensure low costs and fresh taste. Their strategy turned them from the 20th largest brewer in the United States to the 8th largest brewer in a matter of six years.
In Britain, Black Label began to take off and was shipped around the globe where it took up residence in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
After the Carling breweries in the United States stopped producing Black Label to focus on a more profitable lager, they found their sales plummeting and re-introduced Black Label with a beautiful blonde named Mabel, portrayed by Jeanne Goodspeed. The twenty year marketing campaign cemented the name in the popular culture of America.
In 1979, after several years of intense pressure from the larger American Brewers Miller and Anheuser-Busch Carling-National was bought out by the Heileman Brewing Co. of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Carling and the Black Label brand are currently owned by the Molson Coors Brewing Company.
In South Africa, Black Label began to take on a different tone with the anti-apartheid movements. Not only did it have more alcohol than the other brands of beer in the country, but the connotation of black to the racial issue became a point of pride to the native Africans.
In the United Kingdom, Black Label is a best known for another series of ads showing someone doing something cool, clever or difficult, and having a bystander say "I bet he drinks Carling Black Label". Created by the WCRS agency in 1989, many of the adverts featured comedians Mark Arden and Stephen Frost (alias the Oblivion Boys) delivering the classic punchline. Largely because of this advertising campaign, it has been the best-selling brand of beer in Britain since 1971, although it is not particularly well-regarded by beer aficionados.
